Busy Week

Happy Birthday Justin!
Hayley at the Spelling Bee

The 28 Finalists

Happy Birthday Hayley!

Right after hurting his eye. It was swollen shut for 3 days.

The color setting in.

One of Zach's basketball games.

We have had a crazy week. We had three birthdays in five days, starting with Justin's on Saturday. Hayley had the Davis County School District spelling bee on Tuesday night. She made it to the next round becoming one of the 28 finalists out of 155. On Wednesday, was Hayley's birthday. Right before we did cake and ice cream, Tyler and Justin were messing around like boys do, and Justin threw a ball to Tyer who was going to jump up and catch it landing on the couch, except he missed the couch and hit is eye on the arm of the couch. The arm is padded so who would have thought he would come out with a huge, swollen eye? Needless to say, the next day, on my birthday, I kept him home from school so I could take him to the doctor because the swelling still hadn't gone down. He is fine now, but it's going to be ugly for a few weeks! We ended out the week with a Jazz game on my birhthday, a high school basketball game for Kris' cousin's kid, 3 basketball games for Zach and one basketball game for Justin. Whew!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

At the Aquarium with the sharks

Long Beach

Sea World

Shamu?

Justin wanted to try shooting the gun, but the thing was way too big and heavy!

At the Beach

The Birthday Boy

Seal Beach

Mama Seal with baby seal

Okay, so maybe we didn't use a train, but I think an airport shuttle should count, cause we did that one too. Last week, our family took a trip to California. Kris had a work convention out in San Diego, so we thought we would take the whole family and use our JetBlue connections and go. We arrived at the airport very early Thursday morning at 5 am for the 6 am flight. The flight was looking full, and we were 26 thru 32 on the standby list. It didn't help that the whole BYU cheer squad was on the flight we wanted. Well, the flight left without us on it, and the next two fights to Long Beach were just as full if not fuller with lots of people still on standby. Kris and I made an executive decision at 6:30 am, and decided to load up in the car and drive to Las Vegas so we could catch the 3:20 flight to Long Beach where our rental car and hotel waited for us. At first the kids were not too happy, but the ride went quick, we got to see some extra sights along the way, and made it to Vegas with time to spare. We had to warn the little boys about the billboards they might see, and I can attest that there was plenty of giggling going on in the back seat. Got on the Vegas flight to Long Beach with no problems, even getting to sit up front and together as a family which never happens flying from Salt Lake. Once in Long Beach, we visited the Aquarium and had some dinner, before going to our hotel. The next day we drove up to San Diego and went straight to Sea World. It had been a while since our family had been there, Tyler was only 10 months old at the time, so we decided it was time to revisit. The kids enjoyed Sea World so much more than they did Disneyland, and Mom and Dad have decided that we are good on visiting any amusement park for a while. The day started out a little chilly, but the sun came out and turned out to be a great day. That night, Kris had to start his convention, so we dropped him off at the hotel and checked in and the kids and I headed down the street to Old Town, visiting souvenir shops and checking out all the action on a Friday night there. Saturday just happened to be Justin's birthday, and Kris had to spend most the day in meetings, so I really felt the pressure to make it special. Not all presents made the trip due to the lack of space in carry on luggage, but Justin didn't seem to mind. First stop was the Mormon Battalion museum right by the hotel. The kids enjoyed this so much, getting to see first hand what the people had to endure and then they got to mine for gold. The kids and I then ventured out in the car on the busy California roads and eventually made it to the beach without getting lost. It rained on and off that day, but we were able to enjoy the beach until the birthday boy tripped while running backwards away from the waves and fell into the ocean! Luckily we had clothes in the back of the car, so we changed and started to head back since Dad was done with his meetings. We then headed up the coast to La Jolla and Seal Beach which the kids absolutely loved. There was a seal there that had just moments before given birth to a baby seal. The kids were in awe watching the mom seal try to protect her baby from the seagulls that were trying to get the placenta which had still not delivered. Quite the learning experience for the little ones. From there we tried to find a restaurant that would be birthday worthy. Somehow we stumbled upon a Cafe Rio and this made everyone happy, especially the birthday boy. We finished off the day with a pathetic attempt of cake in the form of Cold Stone icecream. Justin told me that going to the beach was what he hoped he could do for his birthday, so at least we made it there! Next day was flying out of Long Beach back to Vegas which was so easy and we didn't have to try to fight the Salt Lake flight with all the BYU cheerleaders again. Drive home from Vegas seemed a lot longer, but all in all I think everyone enjoyed our crazy adventure!

Spell Medallion

M E D D A L I O N. That was the word that Hayley misspelled in the spelling bee, but not too bad, she came in 2nd place out of her school and will be going on to district. Congratulations Hayley! I am so proud of you!

Post Christmas Follow-Up

Christmas Eve at Grandma's

The Finished Room (Before Picture too scary!)

Zach wishing for more presents

Hayley excited about Electronic Monopoly, she looks like she is crying though!

Tyler and Justin opening their scooters at the same time. We made them open these last!

Christmas was good, the kids and hubby are all back to school and work, and life is quiet. I think the kids all had a good Christmas, Santa was extra nice, the kids must have done something right. Zach had already used most of his Christmas presents prior to Christmas, but there were a few gifts still under the tree. His big gifts were his skis and Powder Mountain season ski pass. He has been going a lot with friends and loves to ski! I wish I could find a sport this kid does not love! Hayley wanted a new bedroom for Christmas and a new mp3 player. The bedroom was a big success and turned out so cute! She is officially in her "teenage" room, no more little girl room. Tyler and Justin got motor scooters, and the weather was nice enough they were able to go ride around the neighborhood on Christmas day. Glad to be back to normal life though...

Christmas Lights

Tonight for family night, we took the kids downtown for dinner and lights at Temple Square. The kids and I rode the commuter rail and met Kris at the Gateway station. We then took the kids to Bucca di Beppo for dinner. We enjoyed an authentic Italian dinner there and the kids enjoyed some of the funny pictures hung throughout the restaurant. The pizza reminded me of my trip to Italy, and the kids all agreed that they liked the pizza thin and greasy!

From there, we made the trip through Temple Square to see the holiday lights. The kids even got to go inside the Tabernacle for the first time. It was a great way to kick of the Christmas holidays.

Merry Christmas!

My Little Trick or Treaters

This year Justin and Tyler went as the Super Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi. They were a hit everywhere they went, even teenage boys told me how much they liked their costumes. And Hayley went as the Progressive Insurance lady, Flo. I loved how easy her costume came together, my favorite kind. Halloween was a bit rainy, but the kids got quite the loot between Trunk or Treat Friday night, and Trick or Treating on Saturday night. Happy Halloween!

One Year Older

Tyler celebrated his seventh birthday last week. Other than being busy with sports, it was a great one! He got to play his first basketball game on his actual birthday which he didn't seem to mind, then we celebrated with friends over the weekend. I let him have a late night with 8 other boys for three hours, which after the invitations were sent out I started to worry about too much time to kill. Thanks to the help of the whole family, we all had assignments and divided and conquered the entertainment of 10 boys for 3 hours! Whew!! Because it was so crazy, I didn't realize until after the boys left that I didn't take any pictures! The agenda was pizza, outdoor games, haunted house where they fish or treated for their goody bags, campfire with marshmallows, donuts on a string, and watching Scooby Doo until the parents came. Glad it's over and glad Tyler had a great birthday!